Hood Canal Priority Basins Project

The Hood Canal Priority Basins project, which runs through the end of 2017, is focused on identifying non-point sources of fecal bacteria in two high priority stream basins in Jefferson County: Chimacum Creek and Ludlow Creek. Both stream basins are located in the Hood Canal Action Area and have been identified as high priority areas in the Hood Canal Regional Pollution Identification and Correction program (Hood Canal Coordinating Council 2013).

The Ludlow Creek basin is the last unstudied stream basin in eastern Jefferson County and water quality monitoring will provide a much-needed baseline of data. Although a portion of Port Ludlow is on sewer, approximately 300 septic systems are located in the drainage. Click here for map showing Spring and Summer monitoring results.

Sanitary surveys of onsite septic systems will help to assess the risk to local waterways. Two hundred and fifty out of 2,000 known septic systems in the Chimacum basin were surveyed between 2007 and 2011 through a previous Ecology grant (G0700093). In that project, 5% of systems were found to be failing or in violation. The Hood Canal Priority Basins project will complete additional surveys and correction activities in areas of degraded water quality. This will protect human health from risks of waterborne pathogens and keep shellfish beds open and waters safe for recreation.